ONE tenet of Christian teaching which has taken me at least 50 years to grow into, is the wisdom of tackling the challenges of life 'not in your own strength, but in God's'. An anonymous 16th Century anthem puts it another way: 'Let your softness be known unto all men' (Philippians 4v5).

I take this to mean reaching out to God and to the people around you, admitting your vulnerability, or 'softness', and giving them the opportunity to help - not battling on alone, trying to solve the world’s problems.

It's not a failing to be unable to meet a need, or to fail to solve a problem you're aware of, or to be unable to heal someone's pain. These are opportunities to ask for resources, inspiration, skill and expertise. Out of this process we learn to build relationships.

It's one of the blessings of my role as volunteer manager at Manna House that my work is full of those opportunities. New challenges arrive every day in the lives of our clients, and, as a small charity, we cannot meet them all on our own.

But I only have to ask - our volunteers, partners and friends - and there are always people willing and able to step in and provide the resources, expertise and time that we need.

The more we accept that help, the more we share the great privilege of supporting the most vulnerable people within our local community. That is a God-given gift in itself.

Lois Sparling, St George's, Kendal